CABE Press Release

Bristol's City Learning Centre wins Prime Minister's Award for Better Public Building

The City Learning Centre at Brislington School in Bristol has won the Prime Minister's award for Better Public Building, it was announced at a ceremony in London tonight, Wednesday 23 October.

The CLC @ Brislington designed by Alec French Partnership is one of two identical learning centres that were built as part of Bristol's 3-year Excellence in Cities programme to raise educational achievement. The CLC @ Brislington located at Brislington Secondary School and The-I, located next to Monks Park School took just 10 months from the appointment of the design team to the buildings' completion.

Since the Centre opened in February this year, thousands of local pupils, businesses and community members have taken advantage of the state-of-the-art IT learning services on offer. The contemporary design and high levels of natural light make for a stimulating learning environment.

An eminent panel of judges chaired by Ian Coull, Director of Sainsbury's, chose the winning project. They said:

"The tremendous enthusiasm of the client, funding agency and design and construction team has been rewarded with a practical, adaptable and delightful building that adds fun and motivation to school classroom learning for a minimum cost. It was up and running just 21 weeks from design go-ahead and it is an excellent use of space in the grounds of one of Britain's earliest comprehensive schools. It is a superb example of a functional building meeting all the project's objectives."

"This is a fantastic honour for everyone involved with the City Learning Centres. Designing and building them was a real team effort from start to finish. Without the architects, host schools, contractors, city council and Excellence in Cities team contributing their specialist skills to a complex jigsaw the centres would never have happened. When we started this project we wanted to create striking, long lasting buildings that would be stimulating learning environments for schools, businesses and the local community."

The Award was presented by the Rt. Hon Lord Falconer MP of Thoronton. He said:

"I am delighted to announce that the winner of this year's Better Public Building Award is the City Learning Centre at Brislington School, Bristol. As the Centre demonstrates school buildings can and should serve the whole community. It is not just a building, but a vital part of the community which will help ensure that people of all ages and backgrounds have access to the fantastic opportunities presented by information technology. Community based buildings, such as doctors' surgeries and schools, are the buildings that really matter to most people, most of the time. The City Learning Centre is an excellent example of just what can be achieved, even within the constraints of a relatively small budget and tight time frame. We need to apply the same energy and imagination to improving all public buildings which play such a vital role in our lives."

The Award is sponsored by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) and the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and is part of the British Construction Industry Awards.

The ceremony was held at the London Hilton and attended by over 1000 construction industry professionals. The Judges for the Award were: